1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods for warming containers and cold, often frozen, liquids therein, and is directed more particularly to such a method utilizing only ambient heat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Microfuge tubes are well known in the art. They typically provide storage for up to about 1.5 milliliters of liquid and may be provided with a snap-top lid. The tubes are used in numerous laboratory settings and are produced and marketed by a number of biotech manufacturers and distributors. The tubes typically are of a plastic material, such as polypropylene and polystyrene. There is very little variation in size and shape, given the extensive number of accessory products and machinery designed for use with the tubes.
Microfuge tubes frequently are used to store liquid samples in a frozen state, typically between 0xc2x0 C. and xe2x88x9280xc2x0 C. Such frozen samples must be thawed before use. Often the thawing, or defrosting, procedure is undertaken on a daily basis. Because of the heat sensitive nature of many types of samples, such as protein stocks, cell lysates, enzymes, certain biochemicals, and the like, the tubes must be allowed to thaw out at room temperature, as opposed to applying heat from an active heat source to the tubes.
The time a researcher spends waiting for the samples to thaw often is wasted time. For example, it takes about twenty minutes for a one milliliter sample of water frozen at xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. to completely thaw out when left at room temperature.
To decrease the time required for thawing out frozen samples in microfuge tubes, there has been developed a defroster comprising a block of material of high heat transfer capability, the block defining a bore therein, the bore having a configuration and dimensions closely complementary to an outside configuration and dimensions of the microfuge tube, such that when the tube is disposed in the bore, substantially an entirety of an exterior of the tube is in snug contact with an interior of the bore. The block is devoid of contact with any heat source other than ambient heat. The defroster is shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/110,760, filed Jul. 3, 1998, now abandoned in the name of Lance D. Miller.
While the defroster described immediately above has greatly decreased thawing time required for frozen matter in microfuge tubes, it is deemed of benefit to reduce still further the required thawing time.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method which accelerates the defrosting or thawing out time of a liquid in a microfuge tube, and which does so utilizing only ambient temperature and no actively applied heat.
An object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a method which substantially reduces the time for thawing out of liquids in containers, such as microfuge tubes, without the need for active heat application.
With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, a feature of the present invention is the provision of a method for more rapidly thawing out liquids in containers. The method includes providing a block of material of high heat transfer capability, the block defining a bore therein extending downwardly into the block from an upper surface thereof, the bore having an inside configuration and dimensions complementary to an outside configuration and dimensions of the container, placing a small amount of liquid at room temperature in the bore, and placing the container in the bore, such that when the container is disposed in the bore, an exterior of the container is in contact with a film of the liquid coating an interior of the bore, the block and liquid being devoid of contact with any heat source other than ambient heat.
The above and other features of the invention, including various novel details and combinations of method steps, will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. It will be understood that the particular method embodying the invention is shown by way of illustration only and not as a limitation of the invention. The principles and features of this invention may be employed in various and numerous embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.